


Music Sheets

by reafterthought



Category: Charisma Doll (Manga)
Genre: Freeverse, Gen, Poetry, ffn challenge: another mega prompts challenge, ffn challenge: diversity writing challenge, ffn challenge: mega-prompts challenge, poetry collection, word count: under 1000 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-14
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 07:10:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12812334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reafterthought/pseuds/reafterthought
Summary: Words had more to say when heard or read.





	1. Fake Face, Real Voice

**Author's Note:**

> Collection of poems, each one for a different challenge/prompt. This one's written for the Diversity Writing Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), a2 – write a poem under 8 lines

That cute little wig she wore  
wasn't hers, nor that powder  
on her face changing its pallor:  
that stamp that made her her own

But the voice was real  
and for now, until she'd grown a little  
more, that was enough.


	2. who sings on the stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), writing prompts #040 – freeverse poem.

Maybe this wasn't the sort of debut  
she'd had in mind  
but that was fine for now:

She wanted to sing  
after all, and whether by her name or not  
she sung  
upon that stage  
in front of fans.


	3. the masked idol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), word prompts #10 - modern.

The masked marauder is old-fashioned now;  
they’re forward, they’re brave,  
they won’t get their head loped off  
by a sneaky boot knife

But knives are words and images  
and more words: people, in person,  
the media, the numbers on charts  
of sales and popularity

So maybe she needs that mask  
after all.


	4. Early Retirement

They go stale after a bit:  
bread left on the bench,  
singers past their prime –

Either that, or they’re swallowed up  
by fame, by the gravity  
of those gazes,  
those words,  
those eyes…  
and the judgement  
they house inside…

It’s either crumble into crumbs  
or go old and stale…

Either way, it’s a world  
they wind up leaving  
young.


	5. The Bird's Cage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), word prompts #12 - perfect.

She can feel his eyes on her,  
looking,  
searching,  
searching for her…

_But do you even know  
what you’re looking for?_

There’s the androgynous idol  
with the deep voice and short hair  
and curves hidden under flowing  
loose-fitting clothes

And there’s the girl from school  
in the short skirt and the ponytail  
and the opera voice, cute but strained,  
keeping the bird in the cage…

_What’s behind  
the bird’s cage?_

_And can you even see  
the cage?_


	6. being exceptional

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), word prompts #13 - poised.

A pretty little girl like her  
wasn’t going to break  
the field: she had to be  
bright and burning  
and untouchable  
like the sun, and distant  
and ethereal  
like the moon.


	7. Footsteps on the Shore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), word prompts #14 - bumpy.

It’s not an easy road  
to fame; she knows  
but it’s too smooth now,  
a sprint on the beach  
in thongs where they  
could fly off any moment  
except they don’t  
and just leave footprints  
in the sand behind…

It’s not an easy road  
and she can slip at any moment,  
she knows. She can trip  
on rocks or seaweed or shells  
or a foaming wave could come  
and knock her off her feet

And if they’re not behind her,  
or if they are, they’re still  
in front, and she has to tread carefully  
even now.


	8. Graduation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), word prompts #15 - ahead.

She can’t wear the mask forever.  
She can’t stay at school forever.

Which one will win, in the end,  
she wonders? The life she already leads  
or the one she’s working towards

Or will they tangle and tear  
and she’ll be left with neither,  
a demolished past, a torn future  
she can’t put back together…

But time won’t stay unchanged  
forever.


	9. The Cracking Mask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), word prompts #16 - abject

It’ll crumble: her mask, her other self  
and she always knew it would.  
She’d outgrow it  
or she’d toss it out in the summer’s  
heat, unable to bare its stifling  
any more…

Or someone would come along with a  
sledgehammer and smash it  
into bits.

It’ll crumble, one day,  
so she has to make sure  
her make-up’s ready  
when it’s done.


	10. Coming into Adulthood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Mega-Prompts Challenge (Anime and Manga Fanfiction Challenges), word prompts #17 - plastic.

Maybe she shouldn’t have agreed to hide  
in the end, but she has  
and now the doll skin’s stuck  
on her face.

It’s a mask, but she can’t get it off.  
Plastic surgery: it’s changed her  
and it’ll leave scars  
once it’s inevitably ripped off.

But it’s a hard road, no matter the path  
and she knows that; she’ll deal  
and the scars will be her struggle  
and her adulthood

When the mask that hides the child  
is ripped away.


End file.
